Finger Exercises for Poets

Name: Finger Exercises for Poets
Price: 17.99 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9781324050667

by Dorianne Laux

$17.99

In stock

From "a poet of immense insight and masterful craft" (Kwame Dawes), Finger Exercises for Poets is an engaging and inspiriting invitation to practice poetry alongside one of its masters. With wide-ranging examples from classic and contemporary poets, Dorianne Laux demystifies the magic of language that makes great poetry and offers generative exercises to harness that magic. She explores the syllable and the line, the use of form, poetic responses to contemporary events and personal experiences, the imaginative leap, and the power of a distinct voice. As she writes in the introduction, "My instrument is the immensity of language.... There are eighty-eight keys on a piano, six hundred thousand words in the English language. The patterns, sequences, and permutations of both are endless. For me, language is another kind of music.... I practice poetry. This book invites you to practice along with me."

Throughout, Laux reminds us that poetry is a practice as much as an art and that poets must hone their language as a musician practicing an instrument.

Publisher:: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN:: 9781324050667
Binding:: Paperback
Pages:: 208
Authors:: Dorianne Laux
Published Date:: 2024-07-30
Language:: English

Ships directly to you from our US distribution partner. US delivery only.

Usually ships within 1–2 business days.

Estimated total time for this book on its own:

Economy 6–10 business days (usually about a week)
Expedited 3–7 business days
Express 2–4 business days

Orders with more than one book may arrive in separate deliveries. Pre-orders always ship separately once the book is released.

We offer a 30-day return policy, which means you have 30 days after receiving your item to request a return. To be eligible for a return, your item must be in the same condition that you received it: new, unworn or unused, and in its original packaging. See details on our Return & Refund policy.

Recommended by a poet...

Is there a book on the craft of writing that you recommend to poets?

Dorianne’s new craft book is Finger Exercises for Poets. In the introduction, Dorianne talks about how musicians play scales and arpeggios and how artists make sketches or doodles. In that same spirit, Finger Exercises for Poets seeks to inspire writers to use simple or basic exercises to keep their writing skills honed, to make room for careful observation, play, and messy writing. Dorianne was my thesis advisor during the MFA at North Carolina State University, and we’ve continued to write together in online writing groups over the last 10+ years. It is a true gift to have her as a mentor, and these craft books are treasures of her writing advice and wisdom.

— Arielle Hebert, author of Bottom Feeders

Read more from Arielle Hebert on our blog

All Poetry Dorianne Laux Poetry Craft and Writing

About Dorianne Laux

Before earning a BA from Mills College, Dorianne Laux worked as a sanatorium cook, gas station manager, and maid. Her collections include Awake (BOA Editions, 1990), What We Carry (BOA Editions, 1994), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Book of Men (W. W. Norton, 2011), which won the Paterson Poetry Prize. Facts About the Moon (W. W. Norton, 2005) received the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. She served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2020 to 2026.

If this information requires correction, please contact info@thepoetryshop.com.